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Sales of renewable energy certificates (RECs) rose 10.65 per cent to 5.59 lakh units in December on the IEX and the PXIL as against the previous month, according to official data.

The sales in November had stood at 5.05 lakh units.

The renewable purchase obligation (RPO) is mandated by the central and state electricity regulatory commissions and is applicable to power distribution companies (discoms), open access consumer and captive consumers.

They are under obligation to buy RECs from renewable energy producers to meet this norm.

The auction of RECs is conducted once by the two exchanges on last Wednesdays of every month.

In the auction conducted on December 26, the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and the Power Exchange of India (PXIL) sold 3,83,873 and 1,75,774 RECs, respectively, totalling 5,59,647 RECs in December, according to the official data released by the exchanges.

In November, the IEX and the PXIL sold 3,88,213 and 1,17,525 RECs, respectively, totalling 5,05,738 RECs, as per data available on both the exchanges.

The IEX said in a statement: "Both non-solar and solar REC saw reversal in REC demand-supply situation with buy bids exceeding the sell bids. The discoms were the major buyers in the session followed by captive users companies and open access consumers."

According to the statement, a total of 3,83,873 RECs were cleared at the IEX in the trading session on December 26, featuring trade of 2,95,601 non-solar RECs and 88,272 solar RECs. The trading session saw a decline of 88 per cent on year-on-year basis and 1 per cent on month-on-month basis in RECs.

In fiscal 2018-19 (year-to-date), the IEX has cumulatively traded 63.17 lakh RECs as compared with 66.77 lakh RECs in the same period of the previous fiscal, showing a fall of 5 per cent.

The PXIL in a statement said: "Prior to Wednesday's auction, more than 23.76 lakh non-solar RECs and 6.57 lakh solar RECs were available in the market for trade. During the Wednesday session, market participants submitted bids at different price points within the applicable price band.